CineTV is holding a competition at the moment and in this Contest They ask us to write a post talking about our favourite sports film. These contests tend to be a lot of fun and while I had to think for a while about it, the perfect film to talk about for this one I think is, Happy Gilmore.
The film sees Happy Gilmore (Adam Sandler) losing his girlfriend at the start of the film. From there he visits his grandmother, whose house is being repossessed. But soon it is discovered that he has a natural flair for golf, which he hates, instead, he has always wanted to play hockey but as the film goes on we discover that he never made it onto the hockey team because he's terrible.
The Film
I wouldn't consider it one of my favourite films or anything, but I did recently watch it and had a fair few laughs throughout and thought it was pretty good. I used to watch a lot of Adam Sandler films, this being one of them.
As the film goes on he is taken under the wing of Chubs Peterson (Carl Weathers) and Happy learns the ways of golf.
The Film has it all really. Trials tribulations, an evil guy who hates Happy and a love interest and wouldn't you know it. There is money to make in the big golf tournament and it's just enough cash to buy the grandmother's house off the bank.
While all this is going on, the grandmother is in a nursing home temporarily. She is kind of being bullied by an orderly called Hal L (Ben Stiller) Which was actually funny watching it again because I forgot he was in it.
I suppose I could call his earlier films guilty pleasures, I have a ritual when I consider putting one on. I close the curtains, turn off the lights, lock the door, put on a pair of headphones and stick one on. Okay, I wouldn't go that far, but you know what I mean.
I just can't bear the thought of the ridicule I would get if someone caught me watching one of these flicks.
Golf
It's a fairly boring-looking sport, in my opinion, I wouldn't be interested in watching it. But, this film makes it entertaining and throughout the film we see many fans emerge to follow Happy's foul-mouthed antics.
I can almost picture him and his friends having a few beers and spit-balling ideas about making a film revolving around the most boring sport in the world and hay presto. Happy Gilmore was conceptualized. I think the film did a great job of making golf look entertaining, as it feels believable. Because if, hypothetically, a guy like Happy Gilmore became a golfer and acted as he does in this film. People would turn up in droves to watch.
Adam Sandler
I don't know when exactly it happened, but I remember when I was younger he was considered very entertaining, me and my friends would always quote his movies. But in recent years a lot of people cringe at the fact they used to watch his films. I don't know what it was that brought on all this hate.
I think it's the voices he puts on which tend to be irritating and also the fact that in nearly every film he creates, he's always the best person in the film while everyone else is an asshole.
With most of his movies, you can almost guess what's going to happen in it if you've seen one of his previous films because beat for beat the same things tend to happen. I know when you break it down most films follow the same beats and are essentially the same story, all be it with different actors starring. Maybe it's the fact that he tends to put himself in the leading role in his movies, I think that could be it really. Deja Vu by seeing the same cast, doing the same things over and over again.
In saying that though, he's built a good career around these films and has most likely made him and his friends a lot of money in the meantime.
What I will say is. One of the recent films he created and doesn't star in is called Wrong Missy and that was fairly funny and worth watching. I think it should still be on Netflix. I haven't watched Uncut Gems but I've heard that one is good too. So maybe Sandler's been inspired again to make films with a bit of effort put in, rather than just cashing cheques.
I think Adam Sandler's films are on a spectrum, 1 - 10 on either side of the line. On the left you have the likes of Jack and Gill and the Ridiculous Six, then on the other side, you have the likes of Big Daddy or Anger Management. Happy Gilmore sits somewhere closer to the 10 side of the chart. Along with the likes of Little Nicky. (I don't care what anyone says, I know the voice is annoying in that one but I used to think it was a great film.) Although I haven't watched Little Nicky in a long time, I hope it's not bad. I watched Billy Madison recently and my god, I used to think that was funny, but I got a rude awakening watching it again. It really doesn't hold up.
Thinking about it, in a future post, I might rate all of the Sandler films for the fun of it. Right here in the CineTv community, for your reading pleasure. As I put myself through hell watching and rating/ reviewing every Sandler film.
Conclusion
I think it's a funny enough movie, but I think it'll be a long time until I watch it again. It's not bad, the cast are all great in the film and it's one of those out there Sandler flicks. It could be dated now for anyone who's never watched his films, but, for anyone who used to enjoy his movies years ago, I think it's worth watching again if you haven't seen it in a while.
As I said earlier, it's a fairly predictable story, we all know what's going to happen if you jump into it. But, there's a lot of fun to be had along the way.